Credit unions tap Facebook to fuel growth in new loans

Chicago, IL -- Multiple credit unions are proving that Facebook is a viable channel for originating new loans. Alliant Credit Union produced nearly $1 million in new auto loans over four-months using a calculator tool on Facebook. CitizensFirst generated $500,000 in loans from a Facebook contest.

Tracking the return on investment for social media efforts can be a tricky proposition, particularly for financial institutions. But Alliant Credit Union was able to bang out some strong results by leveraging a third-party online loan generation tool.

Back in November 2013, Alliant was looking to align its social media and digital efforts with the credit union’s lending products. Alliant wanted to improve its Facebook engagement metrics, attract a younger audience and generate more loans, so the Chicago ­area credit union adopted Shastic’s Calcubot Cloud.

Calcubot Cloud gives banks and credit unions a tool that walks prospects through an interactive buying process tailored to the financial institution’s lending strategy. Consumers can specify terms like down payments for mortgage and auto loans, set up alerts for interest rate changes, share estimates with co-borrowers, and initiate the loan application process.

Alliant, which promotes Calcubot on its homepage and prominently on its Facebook page, tracked the leads accurately through a promo code that users entered when applying online for a loan.

In the first four months of using the product, Alliant’s Facebook and online Calcubots attracted nearly 6,400 visitors. Eighty-two per cent of those generated an auto loan estimate from the credit union. Calcubot drove 478 qualified prospects to Alliant’s online auto loan application – that’s a 9.1 per cent conversion rate among those interacting with the tool. 39 per cent ended up submitting an application, with seven per cent funding loans totaling $887,043.